


a facade in the face of experience

by Skiewrites



Series: A Big Bag of LU Fics... [7]
Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Genre: Angst, Babey Legend (Linked Universe), Gen, Legend (Linked Universe) Angst, Legend (Linked Universe)-centric, Linked Universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:47:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26212885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skiewrites/pseuds/Skiewrites
Summary: Legend was thirteen years old, nine months and a day when he learned that everyone else in the group believed him to be at least five years older than his actual age.It causes some issues.
Relationships: Four & Legend (Linked Universe), Link & Marin (Legend of Zelda), Link & Ravio (Legend of Zelda)
Series: A Big Bag of LU Fics... [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1769746
Comments: 45
Kudos: 361





	1. Poor Ratty Boy

Link had been nine years, two months and thirteen days old when he had that strange dream, the one where a young girl had called to him to save her.

Of course, he went to go and save her. He may have been young (but he was old, he was nine years, two months and thirteen days old, and that was practically all grown up!) but his uncle had taught him well. Link had been taught to treat all women with the utter most respect, and if one of them needed his help, then he was going to give as much help to the mysterious girl of his dreams.

It took some searching, some looking and a lot more sneaking, before he found the entrance to the sewer system. He had jumped into the used water without a second thought, because he was already soaked from the pouring rain outside, and he was already going to be in a whole heap of trouble with his uncle when he got back home, hopefully with the girl calling out to him in his dreams safe and sound. However, the fact that his clothes were dirty with sewer water was not going to change the fact that he was probably going to be grounded for the rest of his life for the act he was pulling.

‘But it’s gonna be worth it,’ he told himself. ‘All the troubles gonna be worth it when the girl smiles at him and thanks him for doing so much to go and save her from the big bad evil person.’

The sewers are dark and creepy, but Link was not afraid. There was a lantern in his hand and bravery in his heart, and with those two things he would be able to go into the unknown with the knowledge that he would return back home safely.

It’s not long before the end of the corridor was in sight where it made a sharp turn to the left. Just before it slumped was the shape of a body.

The dark shadow was almost enough to stop Link in his tracks. He was young, sure, but even he at nine years, two months and thirteen days, was old enough to link a slumping shape of a body and the smell of blood, though hard to tell through the overpowering odour of waste, to the idea of death. The body was still moving though, still breathing, so maybe there was still some hope left for the man, but as Link got closer and closer, the man’s breathing became less and less, until Link was right on top of the ma- of his uncle, and the breath that his uncle was breathing were barely enough to make paper move.

His uncle’s dying words were not ones of love, of promises that the future will be better, or of meeting in a better world. Instead they were instructions on how to use a sword, requests to finish his tasks, and an unfinished sentence that asks more questions than it answers.

Years later, Link would think about these final words, and wondered what would have been different of his uncle had left him with love instead of an adventure.

* * *

Link had been nine years, three months and a day when he first entered the Dark World.

Sure, Link was terrified. After everything that had just happened to him, losing his uncle, being told to do this, that and everything else by an old guy he had never met before and the Princess (the Princess, _the_ Princess Zelda, the one that Link had always wanted to meet, though, not like this, never like this) who both decided that they were going to send him all over the country to find some medal looking things so that he would be able to lift the Master Sword, being terrified had become a new constant for him.

This took it to whole other level though.

He was a rabbit.

A pink rabbit, if he had to be specific. He assumed that it was because of his (perfectly natural and not at all _girly)_ pink hair, which, sure, made as much sense as travelling to another world that was parallel to his own. Link wrinkled his nose in distaste of the new situation as well as the new set of smells that bombarded him.

Then, he sneezed.

The violent action causing him to jump back, and unlike when he jumped in his Hylian form, he went flying through the sky, and quickly coming back down again to the earth, his rabbit body knowing exactly how to act to stop him from hurting himself in the floor. The action caused Link’s head to rush with adrenaline and he let out a small laugh in response.

That had been fun.

So Link jumped again. 

And again.

And again.

Not even two minutes later, he was jumping as high as he could measuring himself around the large rocks and racing to another rock when he managed to jump higher the _over_ the rock formation.

It was only when he bumped into another being, complaining about the shape of their body and how they wish they had the golden power to turn themselves back into their Hylian form that Link remembered the situation around him.

Right. Time to get back to the task on hand. Getting back to his human form so that he could complete the Tower of Hera so then he could go and get the Master Sword. He didn’t have time to be playing or messing around. He was nine years, three months and a day old, and it was about time he started acting like it.

He wasn’t quite sure what exactly a Master Sword was exactly, there was nothing wrong with the sword that his uncle had given him after all, but if that’s what they thought he should do then he should probably do it, after all, Princess Zelda was rumoured to be a descendant of the Goddess Hylia herself, a Princess with the Blood of the Goddess. His uncle had told him that it had been a lie, one to make everyone worship the ground that the royal family walked on, the pessimist that he was, but Link couldn’t help but feel like he was breathing fresh air when he had been in the presence of the Princess, so that had to count for something right?

Link's not sure when he started mistrusting the adults that surrounded him in his life, but this is the first time he acknowledges it.

* * *

Link had been nine years, eleven months and twenty-seven days old when he finally, _finally,_ finished his quest. He had protected the people of Hyrule, killed Ganon and saved the Princess. That’s what he had been asked to do, and he had done it. It had costed him a lot, even at the age of nine years, eleven months and twenty-seven days, he knew that he would never be the same person he had been before this adventure.

Along the way he had picked up a lot of things, some of them were unusual to see on a child of his age he was sure. The experience with a sword and shield, his newfound knowledge on magic and monsters and the uncomfortable paranoia that sat heavy on his shoulders, always telling him to look behind him, just in case.

“Doesn’t this feel just a bit… too easy?” Link had asked her as they walked away from her father’s room [that could have been his uncle _it should have been his uncle whywasn’tithisuncle???]_ , both still covered in grime from the final battle

“What makes you say that?” Zelda snapped at him. “We poured blood, sweat and _tears_ into sealing Ganon away for good, none of that had been easy, you of all people should know. Now, I suggest you return the Master Sword back to its pedestal in the Lost Woods. We have no use for it now.”

Link watched her walk away, but he couldn’t find the motivation to do as she said. He sank to the floor instead, leaning back against rough cobblestone as tears began to streak down his face. He tried to fiddle with the triangles on the back of his hand, only one of them was now shaded. After he Triforce of Wisdom had gone to Zelda, and the Triforce of Power had disappeared. The Princess had told him to forget about it, for that was how to Goddesses intended for the Triforce of Power to work.

Link was suddenly reminded of a story that his uncle had told him, before he would go to bed, one of the previous incarnations of the Hero, the fabled Hero of Time.

The Fallen Hero, as he was sometimes called.

The Hero, who had done everything that the princess had told him to, fought and won every battle he was placed in, solved every puzzle he was shoved into, with no help except with a small fairy companion.

The Fallen Hero had done everything correctly, but Ganon had been cunning and entered the sacred realm just after the Hero, and contaminated everything he touched while there, creating the Dark World that Link had come to know.

Link had done everything correctly too. He had sealed Ganon away with the help of the Princess, just like he was supposed to.

They had won.

So why did it feel like they had fallen into a trap?

* * *

Link had been ten years, a month and three days old when he fully learned his lesson: Adults were not to be trusted.

“Where have you been Link?” Asked the shopkeeper as Link paid for some clothes, after all, his green tunic from before had been rendered almost completely unusable during the fight with Ganon.

“I’ve been saving Princess Zelda.” Link said seriously, puffing his chest up in pride, because while he thought that the adventure wasn’t over [there was no way it was going to be that easy to kill the biggest bad that every lived], it was still something he should be proud about, and brag about.

“Sure you have kid,” Looking back, Link can see the doubt rolling off the merchant, but Link had only been ten years, a month and three days old at that point in time and certainly not educated enough in the art of reading people and understanding sarcasm, but in the years to come it will be a skill that he would use on the daily. But he hadn’t seen the doubt rolling off the person, and thus, continued on his way.

-x-

“Link! Why must you carry that sword with you everywhere?” A solder asked when Link walked though the entrance of Kakariko. He was still weary of the soldiers, he wasn’t going to forget that they had been happy to fight him on his adventure, but this one had always been kind to him before.

“Just in case a monster attacks!” Link replied happily, and though he never wishes for a monster to attack, an instance to show off everything he had learned in the past year was something that Link was eager to

“Now, now, why don’t you leave that for those who are qualified.” Link giggled along with the laughing man, because he knew he was qualified. If Link had been the boy he was in three years time, he would have shown the man how qualified he was before laughing, but this Link was innocent to the cruelty of adults then.

-x-

But, soon enough, it became clear to Link that no one believed that Link was the Hero Incarnate.

“Look Link, we’ve put up with this fantasy of yours for long enough, but you can’t be telling the other kids these lies!” A housewife said, throwing her potato into a bowl of water to turn around to Link pointing her spoon at him in a way that had Link knowing he was about to get told off.

He didn’t get what he had done wrong.

He was only answering her questions about what he had been up to since his uncle’s death.

“What lies?” He asked, dropping his carrot into the pot in front of him. A quick turn of his head showed that his sword was just out of reach, but he was sure he could get to it before she attacked him.

Why would she be attacking him? She was just a housewife.

“The lies about you running off and killing monsters and defeating Ganon!” She yelled, moving her spoon with every syllable, and the words echoed around them loudly, reminding Link of how small the room was, how close she was, how far away his sword was.

“But it’s true-”

“We know you haven’t taken the death of your uncle well-”

“Maybe not but he told me to-”

“But that doesn’t give you an excuse to be lying to everyone about where you’ve been and what you’ve done.

“You’re not listening to me!” Link finally screamed, but the woman just rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, spoon still clutched in hand.

“Why of course I’m not listening to you Link, no one listens to a liar, now, stop these lies before we do something _serious_ about it, do you understand me?” She asked sternly, his eyes looking over every part of his body, daring him to disagree.

Link stayed silent.

They didn’t believe him.

All of that hard work to save them and the Princess, to make sure Hyrule was safe from Ganon’s grasp, and _they didn’t believe him._

“Do you understand me Link.”

“Yes Ma’am.” Link whispered, suddenly feeling rather numb.

“Good. Now, drop that silly sword and shield at your house and come straight back. Dinner will be finished soon but I’m not going to be putting something up for you if you dawdle.” She lightly tapped her stop on top of Link’s head, sending Link on his way.

He couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

In fact, if not for the emotional distress he had found himself in, he would have prided himself in his speed he got home. He would have rewarded himself for the new record, maybe by buying himself a treat he hadn’t had in a while or by letting himself get off training the next day, but he was too angry, so angry in fact that when he decided to kick the door shut behind himself, and then kicked the thick wood again for good measure. He didn’t feel the pain that surely should have been there.

Why didn’t they believe him?

He knew he was young, he was only ten years, a month and three days old, but surely that was old enough for people to know that he wasn’t making the stories up for fun? He even had the injuries to prove it! How else would he have gotten them?

What did he do wrong?

Because it was surely him that was the problem, when everyone believed that he was the person who was wrong. But he had done what he was told to do, what he had been raised as. He never told a lie (unless it was to a Bad Person because it meant that you could stop them from doing Bad Things back), he hadn’t cheated, he hadn’t hit or fought to hurt anyone, as far as he could tell.

_Maybe you should run away Link?_

The thought comes out of nowhere, and if he was in any other mindset, he would have been suspicious of it. Something about it was no right, something about it alerted an instinct that hadn’t flared up since his final fight with Ganon. But, at the same time…

Maybe he _should_ run away…

It should have been a stupid decision, because running away will not fix anything, he knew this, but the idea of getting as much land between the himself and the people who didn’t believe anything he said made him feel like everything would be fixed by it.

And anyways, he was only ten years, a month and three days old. People of that age demographic were known for their stupid mistakes.

It doesn’t take him long to pack. He’ll only need his sword and shield (both with his name on because they were his and his alone), a couple of outfits and whatever food he had in his house. He had never heard of Labrynna before, but he was sure it was nice at this time of year.

And maybe, just maybe, he’ll talk to the people in the new places he’ll visit, he’ll tell them his tale, and they would believe him.

(Spoiler alert. They don’t.)

* * *

Link didn’t know how old he was when he washed up on Koholint and met Marin.

He remembered being ten years four months and eleven days old and learning that he had made a mistake in leaving Hyrule, learning that the thought of running away had not been a thought of his own, but by the time he had learned this starling fact he was already on his second adventure helping Nayru.

The other villagers around him seem to ignore his travels as he wondered from town to town, solving puzzles and time travelling. They don’t question seeing the same boy in three different time periods.

They call him a liar when he called himself the Hero of Legend, a title whispered on Impa’s lips when they had been introduced.

He remembered being ten years, ten months and twenty-nine days when Nayru is save, and she asked him a final favour, to check on her sister Din.

He knew he shouldn’t have done it, he needed to go back to Hyrule, he knew something bad was going to happen there, he needed to warn someone-

_But it would be rude of you to leave without fulfilling your request, isn’t it Link? You can’t let the only person who believes in you down Link._

So, he agreed.

He remembered being eleven years and eight days old and kicking himself for falling for the same trick twice, landing himself in another quest that no one but Din would believe would take place.

He remembered being eleven years, six months and nineteen days old and deciding to take the fastest route back to Hyrule, over the sea rather than passing through the land.

Clearly that was a bad idea.

He didn’t know how old he was when he washed up on Koholint Island and met Marin.

He had tried to work it out, but Marin had frowned at him when he had asked for the date and said that they’ve never needed to keep track of time on the island like that before. That should have been the first warning sign, the lack of date to track on the beautiful island.

The second sign should have been the fact that everyone believed him when he hinted about his previous adventures. In fact, they were curious and asked as many questions as possible, asking about each and every scar he had and whether he had fought this monster or encountered that monster.

But the damage had already been done, and it took Link far too long to be comfortable with the questions and answer them correctly, and by the time he felt comfortable to talk about everything that had happened it was already too late.

Marin had told him the importance of opening up for people.

The only person who he ever wanted to open up to wasn’t real.

Link didn’t know how old he was when he opened his eyes, but he knew for a fact that he hadn’t aged a day while on Koholint Island.

* * *

Link learned that he was twelve years, a month and two days old when he got back to Hyurle.

Seven months lost to sea, and three years lost to ‘adventuring’.

Twelve years, a month and two days is young, so young, but old enough to know that he had wasted his childhood on something that no one would believe.

* * *

Link had been twelve years, two months and seven days old when got his blacksmith apprenticeship, and he is nearly silent.

But this silence seemed to be preferred by the other villagers, after all, if he’s not speaking then he’s not lying about his ‘adventures’. There’s still the pitying looks that they send him as he shops for food, the look of worries as he walked around with a sword for a delivery, and the other children have begun to tease him. He heard the whispers about how unfortunate it was that he was still mourning the loss of his uncle, and how sinful it was of him to not to turn up to the weekly worship of the Goddess Hylia.

(Hylia could go fuck herself. She could make his life as hard and horrible as possible for all he cared, she’s already made it unbearable as it was.)

But it’s okay, because if he stays up until unholy hours staring at the ceiling when he’s supposed to be sleeping, if he spends whole afternoons just ranting to the Picori, something he knew he should be too old to see now, if he burns all of his equipment and promising himself that he would never, _ever_ , go on an adventure, then that was nobody’s bloody business to be poking their nose into.

He almost convinced himself that he would be able to live a life of a lie.

* * *

Link had been twelve years, two months and twenty-five days when the life he had created came to a halt before crumbing away into nothing.

Link had been on a wild goose chase for the last twenty hours, no time to rest as he travelled from one side of Hyrule to another trying to figure out what was going on, taking note of every missing person, ignoring the looks that everyone else sent him, the jokes that came his way about his adventure.

Link stayed silent to these people. He didn’t need these people. He didn’t need their help; he didn’t need their approval.

He had never been a great liar, even to himself. Maybe that why being called a liar hurt so much.

And then he met Ravio.

He had been strange to Link, and Link had met a lot of strange people. He wore a mask and a bunny hood and decided to set up a shop in his ~~uncle’s~~ house.

“You’ll need these equipment for your adventure, right Mister Hero!” Link turned quickly to Ravio. It was strange, to have someone call him a ‘Hero’. Foreign. 

“Mister Hero… Are you… Okay?”

“No.”

That was the first thing he had said in months.

-x-

The adventure continues, there are fights with monsters, people to talk to, mysteries to solve.

But every time he comes close to dying and stumbled into his house, Ravio was always there to help him get back to full heath.

He could get used to that.

-x-

Link had been twelve years, eleven months and ten days old when he sealed Ganon again.

Link and Zelda had looked at each other. There were more things that they needed to do, fix the situation with Lorule, but that would come later. First, they shared a look. They both knew that the seal would hold this time.

They both knew however, that the seal would not last forever.

Link refused to put the sword back. Not yet.

* * *

Link had been twelve years, eleven months and twenty-eight days when Ravio suggested he go on a ‘holiday’ of a sort.

“No.”

“And why not Mister Hero?” Ravio asked, and Link smiled at the nickname. It was a stupid name, and they both knew that Ravio using that name caused glares but Link found it too validating to tell him to stop.

“Because something bad will happen and then I will be dragged into another ‘adventure’ and I do not want to have to use both hands to count how many adventures I’ve been on.”

“But Hytopia hasn’t been known for they’re dangerous activities. They’re more concerned about fashion, so concerned about it in fact that I doubt you’ll have time to even have an adventure between all the conversations about the importance of different stitching to use on a blouse.”

They both knew the reason why Ravio wanted Link to leave.

Link had slowly been going out less and less. He visited the Princess when she demanded it, but he couldn’t stand being in her godly presence. The villagers were talking and talking loudly, especially after he had given up his apprenticeship with a feeble excuse. He had been growing quieter and was beginning to fall back into that deafening silence that he lived in before Ravio had come into his life.

Link had relented eventually. Ravio was right. This wasn’t healthy.

Of course, Link had been correct in his assumption. He had his sixth adventure in Hytopia, but this time he had two companions. This time, he had fun, with people who believe him to be a hero and believe his stories of his past adventures. He had stories that he would tell people that seemed unrelated to adventuring.

Link grew a dislike to pants. After wearing so many dresses, pants felt to… confining.

He can’t wait to tell Ravio that he had an opinion that was nothing to do with adventuring.

Things were getting better.

* * *

Link was thirteen years, four months and seven days when he arrived back in Hyrule.

Ravio isn’t there to greet him.

Link tried not think about it too hard. Ravio’s things were still in his house after all, with the exception of the hammer and the bombs, but…   
  
Link couldn’t help but worry.

Worry about Ravio was in danger, especially where Link couldn’t help him. Worry that Ravio was dead in a ditch somewhere all because Link needed a break.

He probably left him. That was it. Ravio may know the truth about the adventuring and know that Link would never lie about his adventures, but Link would never blame him if Ravio came to his senses and decided that Link wasn’t worth the time nor the effort.

And, well, there’s no one else to talk to anymore. Even the Picori have left him.

* * *

Link was thirteen years, four months and twenty-nine days old when Ravio falls out a black portal and into his arms.

Link wasn’t ashamed to say he cried. A lot.

Ravio apologised of course, he said that he had hoped that he would be back before Link came home, but time travelling was always a fickle thing, Link had first-hand experience with that. So they sit while Ravio explained what had happened during the ‘War of Eras’ as it had been called apparently, and Link sits there in silence as Ravio talks of battles with tens of thousands of monsters and heroes from different eras.

He talked of a Hero of Warriors, a strong leader whose own arrogance was almost his downfall. A Hero of Wind, who smiled at each of them and eluded to facts that he shouldn’t know but said he couldn’t talk where he got the information, since it would mess with the timeline according to him. A Hero of Time, who succeed his task against Ganon, and lived on in a different timeline.

Link stayed silent throughout, merely listening to the words and thinking of what he’s being told.

Does Ravio call them Mister Hero too? Does Ravio look at those heroes and think about how much better and better put together they are compared the Hero of Legend? Does Ravio wish that he got to stay with one of them instead of coming back to Link’s small house of secrets and silence?

“Link… Please talk to me?” When did he stop talking about his adventure, Link wondered. It took Ravio wiping at his face

“I don’t know what to say.” Link’s voice is almost unrecognizable to himself. Croaky and quiet, breaking slightly at the end. Link isn’t surprised at the condition of his voice. He hadn’t spoken in twenty-two days.

* * *

Link was thirteen years, eight months and eighteen days old when he overheard rumours about strange, unrecognisable monsters that were stronger than they’re supposed to be.

Things had been getting better in the past four months. Ravio would talk about the darker things that happened during the war, and Link talked about the darker parts of his adventures, the nitty gritty bits he hated and knew that no one else would believe.

Marin had been right. It was healthy to talk to someone about these things.

Link had been getting out more too, helping Ravio with his business. Of course, people didn’t want magical weapons, but Link had a huge amount of rings he was happy to sell and Ravio was surprisingly good at making pretty jewellery, especially with Link giving him a hand with the limited blacksmithing he knew.

And the bartender of the milk bar in Kakariko was a big fan, happy to splurge for his wife on a regular basis.

“Now boy, if I hadn’t known you’re age I would serve you!” The bartender said in good humour before continuing on with a speech that Link heard every time dropped by with a new package, something that Link was sure he could recite word by word now.

It’s during this speech that Link overheard the two men sitting next to Link.

“They look so strange, taller than a normal moblin that’s for sure!”

“I’ve heard that they’re stronger than normal monsters.”

“I’ve heard that they’ve been sent by the Goddess herself!”

“Are you off your mind? They can’t be-”

“Best not be getting ideas boy,” Link turned back to the bartender, who noticed that he hadn’t been listening to the usual speech.

“Excuse me?” Link spat out, crossing his arms. The bartender rolled his eyes.

“Look,” the bartender lowered his voice to a whisper, as if that wasn’t suspicious. “I know you believe those delusions-”

“Delusions!?”

“-About you being a hero, but it aint healthy and you aint got nothing to prove to any of us. You don’t need to lie about-”

“I wasn’t lying.” Link’s voice rose. He was aware that the bar had gone silent.

“Now now Link, how many times have we told you-”

“Oh fuck off.” Link picked up the payment off the bar and walked out, making sure to slam the door loudly behind him.

If Ravio thought he was going back there within the next month then he had another thing coming.

But… Monsters coming out of dark portals, that they didn’t recognise? Strange, but something that Ravio had come into contact before… maybe they could just… investigate it.

Link knew what this was going to turn into.

Soon he was going to have to start using his toes to count his adventures too.

* * *

Link was thirteen years, eight months and twenty-two days old when he and Ravio found the dark portal.

Ravio was quick to confirm that it was defiantly nothing to with the War of Eras. Link came to a decision ten minutes later.

“Do you have to go?” Ravio snapped at him while Link packed, throwing in random rings, the fire rod, the ice rod, moonstones, potions and empty bottles and a change of clothes.

“No one else is going to figure out the influx of monsters and the weird portal.”

“Never mind that, haven’t you done enough for the country?”

“Oh and who do you recommend we send instead? One of the knights? You of all people know how incompetent they are. One sign of dark magic they’ll either piss their pants and come back with their tails between their legs or join the one making the portal, because, y’know, that’s what happens every single time something like this happens!” Link hated fighting with Ravio, because he knew where he came from.

He always seemed to cry when they argued. Link hated it. He was such a crybaby.

“But why do _you_ have to be the person to do it? What are you trying to prove to _them_?” Ravio pointed out of the door and Link wanted to throw a full-on tantrum. He didn’t get it! Surely out of everyone he would get it!

“It’s not about that-”

“Oh cut the bull-”

“Uh… We’re not interrupting… are we?” The pair quickly turned towards the two people who had entered, dressed strangely, one with face tattoos and the other with a bad case of bed hair, both heavly armed in a way that Link’s instincts roaring.

They were clearly dangerous men.

“Yes.”

“No.” Link turned to Ravio, a snarl etched onto his face. “There’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

“Oh really?”

“Wait, are you packing your bag?” Link turned back to the strangers.

“I’m sorry, who are you?”

“Oh- uh- I’m Li- Sky. You can call me Sky. This is Twilight. We’re looking for the hero to help with-”

“Let me guess, weird dark portals have been appearing in everyone’s Hyrule and now we have to join together to save all of time and space?” Link asked, crossing his arms, Ravio groaning behind him.

“Actually yeah.” The pair said as they looked at each other.

“What gave it away?” The so dubbed Twilight asked, rightfully suspicious.

“You mean other than the weird dark portal that appeared in the woods behind my house a few nights ago and refuses to go away? Along with monsters that I’ve never seen before? Surprisingly enough, this isn’t the first time that this has happened to one of us.” At this Link threw a dark look over to Ravio, who only rolled his eyes.

“That was completely different?”

“Oh really? Pray to the bitch named Hylia and explain to me how this is different from then?” Link went silent for a second, looking at the two strangers before looking back at Ravio. “I’m not going to have a choice about going Bunny, you know how these things work.”

“I know.” Ravio said, before going to Link and giving him a strong hug. “Stay safe.”

“I will.”

And with that, Link became Legend and joined the rest of the group of Heroes.

* * *

Legend was thirteen years old, nine months and a day when he learned that everyone else in the group believed him to be at least five years older than his actual age.

The group was now up to nine, the newest addition to the group being a nervous boy that had been dubbed Hyrule. An unfortunate name, in Legend’s opinion, but he was in no place to talk. It was always feasible that a parent would be dumb enough to call their child after a country.

But Legend?

No one would call their child Legend.

They were sat at another campsite in Hyrule’s world, a desolate little place, not that Legend would ever say that aloud, after all, the Dark World had been worse. The thing about the group was that they insisted on learning about each other and, ugh, _bonding._ Legend would have been happy enough to just get on with the mission so he could get back home as soon as possible, but there was no progress that they could make at night and it wasn’t like he could pretend to be sleeping.

He was well-aware of his inability to lie.

“How old were you when you went on your first adventure then?” Warriors, the soldier that Ravio had apparently worked with, turned to him, and Legend frowned.

“Nine.”

“That’s pretty young.” Time said, but Legend was not going to take judgement from a man who went through the same trauma as him. The man himself may not talk about it, but one of the many reasons why people had been put off with the idea of a pink haired nine year old running around ‘playing hero’ was because the last time that had happened the world had almost ended. 

“Wow, that must have been a long time ago now.” Twilight said.

“It sure feels like it.” It was almost five years now, and that wasn’t the longest time in the world, even though it was over a third of his lifetime. Legend noticed the frown at Hyrule, but before the brown-haired boy could speak Wind spoke up.

“Well duh. A decade is a long time to be adventuring.” A decade… _they thought he was nineteen?_ Sure, people had told him before he looked older than he was, an ongoing joke from the adults at the milk bar and something he and Ravio had laughed about, for they wouldn’t have been taken as seriously by strangers if they didn’t at least pretended to be older than they were.

But these heroes around him, even Wind, believed him to be older than he was…

He didn’t know whether to take that as a compliment or to feel deeply insulted.

“I can’t imagine being on an adventure for that long, the year that it took to complete mine was long enough, thanks.” Twilight put his hands up in a mock surrender, only for Warriors to punch him in the arm in good humour. They had heard countless times from the older man that the war had been three years long, and it had continued long after Ganon had died.

“You get strangely used to it after the second adventure or so. Hyrule in danger again? Well it's a good thing that I already had that scheduled in the tasks I need to complete today.” Four said completely deadpan, causing a laugh out of most of the group, except for Legend.

Legend was thirteen years old, nine months and a day old, and believed to be over nineteen.

Well, he wasn’t going to be the one to tell them.


	2. The Suitcase Senario

**_ Suitcase Scenario _ **

It was surprisingly easy to pretend to be nineteen.

Maybe it was because he was so used to having to pretend to be older, or at least mature, while he had been on his adventures so that people would take him seriously. Maybe it was because of the way that he looked, since he had been told many times by the other villagers in his own Hyrule that he looked older than he was. Maybe it was because his eyes were so haunted, lacking any of the childish joy that all thirteen-year-olds must have, that allowed him to live out the fantasy of being an adult.

Though, the real reason was probably because age didn’t really come up in conversation much.

Of course, everyone was still asking Time what his actual age was (Legend had placed his bet on being in his late thirties, even though Warriors insistence that he was in his early thirties at the latest), and Wild would always joke that he was over a century old and thus should be allowed to drink, but other than that, it was never mentioned.

It didn’t need to be after all. The whole group knew that age didn’t matter when it came to Hylia’s meddling in their lives and the odd times that age would matter, when they went to a milk bar to relax or that one time they went to a brothel for information, Legend never did anything that would cause his age to come into question. 

But, even then, he couldn’t help but feel slightly guilty at the omission. It wasn’t like he was tricking anyone into believing that he was older than he said he was, it was their fault that they thought he was nineteen, not his, there was still the whispering thoughts in the back of his mind that told him that he should have told the others, that they should know that they’re dealing with a cry baby of a thirteen year old, and not a sarcastic nineteen year old that they thought him of.

He’s thought about telling them, on the nights that he can’t sleep so he has to pretend to be, closing his eyes on his bedroll and alone to his thought. It would make him feel lighter, he knew it would, but at the same time, he knew if he did, everyone’s opinion of him would change. They wouldn’t trust him anymore. They wouldn’t look to him for advice, as the most experienced of the group. They wouldn’t take him seriously anymore, only seeing him as a child who thought that they could play hero.

So, for as much as he wanted to tell the group, yell at the world about how unfair it was that he was only thirteen with six adventures while the older people in the group were close to their mid-twenties with only one adventure under their belt, he stayed silent.

If lying about his age meant that people would respect him, then he’ll do it.

Legend kicked a stone in front of him, watching it fly ahead of his path and nearly hitting Time in the ankle, not that he would have felt it underneath his armour of course.

They had been walking for the best part of four hours now, since lunch time, and the sun was beginning to set. Long journeys didn’t bother Legend much, he had learned to be patient with travel years ago, but it was clearly tiring some of the others in the group. Sky was lagging behind as it was, Wind kept having to do a small sort of run to keep up and even Time seemed to be a little put out by the walking. If fact, the only person who didn’t look like they had been walking for a whole day, who kept wondering off to the side of the road, occasionally dragging Hyrule along with him, to pick some mushrooms or to take a picture of a flower that interested him.

If this was a normal day of travel for Wild, then Legend was anxious to see how large Wild’s Hyrule was.

“Let’s stop here for the night.” Four finally called out as they came across a small clearing next to the road, where the forest seemed to be cleared out especially for travellers.

Legend didn’t like the idea of sleeping on the edge of the road, and it was clear that others in the group thought the same if the looks that they shared with other was anything to go by, but this was Four’s world, so they were just going to have to take his word for it.

Setting up camp for the night was something that Legend was sure that he could do with his eyes closed and his hand behind his back, each of them falling into their role specific role, with Four, Sky and Wind collecting some firewood, Hyrule and Legend starting to secure the packs that wouldn’t be used for the night high in a tree to protect it from wild, curious animals, Wild and Warriors setting up the cooking pot and Twilight and Time looking after Epona, whispering quietly to each other about secrets that they clearly didn’t want the rest of the group knowing.

That was fine by Legend. Let them have their secrets, and he could have his.

“We should make sure that the woods surrounding us are safe before we relax.” Time finally called out when it looked like most of camp was completed, Legend still high in his tree as he was finishing his final knot.

“There aren’t any monsters in these woods. Not with the Minish so close by.” Four stated, his arms crossed but he still looked into the woods deeply, familiarity and warmth in his eyes.

“Minish? I’ve never heard of them.” Twilight said.

“You’ve probably heard them be called the Picori.” Four replied, causing Legend’s head to turn to him so fast that he nearly lost his balance in the tree and fell out. Now, that would have been embarrassing.

“Picori?” Legend muttered.

“Never heard of them.” Warriors scoffed.

“They’re small but kind creatures, about the size of a mouse, they’re responsible for all the rupees in the grass yknow?” Four answered, before looking between each of the group and sighing. “However, they can only be seen by well-behaved children, so you guys aren’t going see them.”

“Hey, I’m a well-behaved child!” Wind frowned, crossing his arms in a huff, causing Four to roll his eyes.

“When I say child, I mean that most people stop seeing them when they turn nine or ten.” Legend had been thirteen years, two months and eleven days old when he had last seen the Picori. He had known at the time that that wasn’t normal, he had been told by the adults in Kakariko that that wasn’t normal.

Legend wished he could still see them.

But… maybe he could! Yes! Maybe, if he snuck away from the group for a bit and try and find the Picori in the woods, he could see for once and for all if he was still able to see the tiny creatures. He hoped that he could, after all, he had so much to tell them about, even if they weren’t the ones that he knew from back home it would prove that he could see them.

“Even still, I would feel better if we just double checked. The monsters that we have been fighting have been stronger than normal and getting into places that normal monsters shouldn’t.” Tine insisted.

“Alright. Who’s going to come with me then?” Four asked.

Legend wasn’t going to get a better chance for this.

“I’ll do it.” He said as he jumped down from the tree, picking his sword up as he went.

“What?” Warriors asked. “I thought you hated walking around in the woods?”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong, I do, but what can I say, I never turn down the chance to stab something.” Legend said, smiling widely at the silence that fell on the group.

“You sound like my cousin. Let’s go and get this over and done with then.” Four finally said, leading the way into the dense woodland, Legend hot on his tail.

Even though the woodlands were dense, and Legend hated the woods, he couldn’t help but feel calm wash over him. There was magic covering every leaf and stone, sure, but it was protective magic, the sort of magic that monsters would hate to be around. Four was right. They weren’t going to find any monsters in these woods.

Which meant that Legend finding the Picori was all the higher.

“Look, I’m going to suggest that we split up.” Four said, clearly nervous about the proposition, clearly hiding something, but Legend jumped onto it.

“I agree. We’ll cover more ground and then get back to the group sooner. I heard that Wild was making carrot soup today and if Warriors thinks that he can eat my potion just because we took too long then he’s got another thing coming.” The lie comes out before he can stop it, and he can feel his nose scrunch up with the lie. Four looked at him with suspicion before nodding.

“I’m going to go that way then, call me if you need anything.”

“Sure.”

And with that, they split up, and Legend started his side quest.

* * *

Legend had never gone looking for the Picori before.

Well, that wasn’t actually true.

While Ravio had been missing, fighting Warrior’s war for him it seemed, Legend had spent a lot of time looking for the Picori, when he wasn’t looking for Ravio of course. He had spent days just sitting in front of his bookshelf, waiting for one of the small mouselike beings to appear like they always did. He left small treats out for them, ones that went missing to show that they were around, but he never saw any of them coming and getting the food, only that it was gone next time he checked.

He would spend nights talking to the bookshelf, begging them to show themselves, telling them that he was a well-behaved child, that it wasn’t his fault that the villagers never thought that, that they never believed him.

He knew that it was probably the fact that he was thirteen, since most people age out of it when they’re ten, but thirteen… that couldn’t be too far of a stretch, could it?

He had never tried to look for them in the woods though.

Legend had seen them in the woods, they helped him find the Master Sword when he was nine, but he had actively gone out of his way to look for them in the woods, not when he was already getting disapproving glares from everyone in the village surrounding the woods, and especially not when the woods were still infested with mobins and the like. Contrary to popular belief, Legend didn’t have a death wish, and camping in those woods would have definitely been a signing on the dotted line of one.

But, they were safe here, or at least, Four had said that they were safe here, meaning that Legend didn’t have to be worried about getting stabbed in the back by some monster while he was crawling on the ground looking for something that might be forever invisible to him.

So, that’s what he did.

Crawling around the forest was a lot harder than walking around, as he had to constantly double check where he was putting his hands before he put his weight onto it, least he decide that a small patch of poison ivy would be a great place to look for the Picori. It was a lot slower too, but it meant that he was able to look at every nook and cranny of the trunks of the trees and the shadows caused by leaves before he moved onto the next area.

The thought that this search would be a lot faster if he were a rabbit came to his mind, but he pushed it out again as soon as it came. He would be far too distracted by the fact that he was a rabbit again to actually get anything done.

There were lots of potential areas for the Picori to live, which gave him hope. There were lots of small holes that looked like small rabbit burrows, far too small for things like rabbits or foxes but just the right size for the Picori, but after a while of just watching the entrances, Legend soon came to the realisation that he would not be seeing them come in and out of their houses, at least, not today.

He tried to convince himself that it was because it was slowly becoming night, the forest growing darker and darker and therefore more dangerous for the small creatures, even if there were no monsters around.

He tried to convince himself that they were all asleep, even though the sun had just barely set. Even if he knew that the Picori back home wouldn’t sleep until the moon was high in the sky. 

He tried to convince himself that he couldn’t see them because they weren’t there, but that wasn’t a lie he could be telling himself anymore.

Legend crawled next to the closest tree and leaned back against it, before furiously rubbing his face to stop any tears that felt like slipping out of his eyes. No! He doesn’t get to cry about this. None of the other kids cry when they never see the Picori again, some of them even boast about it to show how grown up they are. Isn’t this what he wanted anyways? To show people how grown up he was, how mature he was? The other heroes would totally find out his actual age if he was able to see the Picori anyways, so this was totally for the better. Right? It was better if he didn’t see them, because then the others would take him more seriously and not treat him like a child.

But he couldn’t stop the thought that came to him, of how unfair it was that he wasn’t allowed to see them anymore. The once in his house used to love the stories, he told them of his adventures, and they were the only people before Ravio who believed him when he said he saved the Hyrule several times over. They had helped him so much after his uncle died, and he never got to tell them how thankful he was for all of that help, goddess knows that he would have burned down the house trying to cook without them there to stop him.

And now he could never see them ever again.

And here he was, crying his bloody eyes out, all because he couldn’t see something that only well-behaved children could see. Goddess, if the others were here, they would make fun of him, tell him that he was overreacting and that he shouldn’t be crying over something that was going to happen. Then they’ll find out his actual age and then they’ll have a go at him for lying to them about it and it will be a whole mess and th-

_SQUEAK!_

Legend jumped at the noise, quickly turning his head to the closest branch, his mouth going dry at the small figure that he saw there.

Legend blinked, then blinked again. Maybe he got something in his eyes while he had been crawling around. Maybe Wild had poisoned him during lunch and now he was seeing things. Realistically, logically, he shouldn’t be seeing this.

But in front of him, was a Picori.

An actual, real life, Picori.

“Yes! I knew I could find one!” Legend said, smiling widely as he threw his arms in the air, before calming down when he saw the Picori jump back in surprise. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you, it’s just I thought I could find of you guys out here because Fou- Link said that there was some of you guys out here and I just wanted to see if I could see you still.” The Picori tilted their head in confusion before slowly nodding.

“Yeah, I guess I look too old to be seeing you guys, which is fair because I am too old to be seeing you, I’m not really a child anymore but I’m only thirteen, and it can’t be that uncommon for teenagers to still be able to see you, right?” Legend asked, and the Picori stared at him for a minute before shrugging, letting out a sequence of noises that Legend couldn’t decipher. Legend’s uncle had always told him that while the Picori had their own language, they were able to speak and understand Hylian, it’s just that they were far too small to be able to speak Hylian in a way that people could understand.

Legend continued after the squeaking stopped. He had no idea what on earth the Picori said, maybe explaining why Legend was able to see him, but they both knew that he wouldn’t be able to

“Yeah, I haven’t seen you guys since before my sixth adventure, when I was twelve. Ravio said it was probably something to do with the fact that I’m ‘starting to get over my childhood trauma and move on’,” Legend said, holding his muddy hands up to make quotation marks. “But I would hardly call myself ‘traumatised’. Sure, the adventures have been scary and the villagers can be really mean sometimes, but they’re just trying to help me since my adventures do seem pretty out there.” The Picori nodded, and Legend smiled at him before continuing.

“Yeah, six adventures were a lot, and I hated a lot of it, but it could have been a lot worse! The other heroes, uh, they’re the people I’m travelling with at the moment, Link’s one of them y’know, they’ve had it a lot worse than me. Hyrule doesn’t have a house to live and Wild doesn’t have any memories and he died! I never died on my adventures, but I did get hit by lightning, which can kill people, but I don’t think I died then. Ravio even told me what happened during the war and at least no one tried to stab me in the back, even if it feels like the villagers have done that to me sometimes. I’ve definitely come out a lot better than they have.” Legend said, rubbing his face again before looking back down at the Picori, taking in their wide eyes.

“Ah, sorry, my uncle used to say that I can ramble sometimes before he died. I don’t mean to… it’s just… I haven’t seen one of you in such a long time… I’ve missed talking to you.”

* * *

Four… really doesn’t have the time to be unpacking all of that.

In retrospect though, he probably deserved this somewhat. If he had just told the rest of the group what he was going to doing, this wouldn’t have happened. He only wanted to go and say hi to the Minish, warn them of the monsters coming that were out of place and stronger than normal. Sure, it would have been embarrassing to tell them that he could get _smaller_ , but if he did then he wouldn’t be in this situation.

As a whole, he wasn’t very good at comforting people. Red could do it just fine, Green was passable, but mix that in with Blue’s struggle to understand his own emotions and Vio’s complete lack of empathy in certain situations mixed together to create Four and his awkwardness whenever someone showed any sign of vulnerability around him.

And then there was Legend.

Legend wasn’t a problem. No, it was more of the whiplash that he had given Four during his monologuing. Firstly, Legend had only told the group that he had been on five adventures, and that if he counted saving the two oracles as two different adventures, and the most recent one was apparently more of a ‘holiday if anything’, whatever that was supposed to mean.

Secondly…

Legend was thirteen.

_Legend was younger than Wind!_

Now that Legend mentioned his age, Four could see the baby fat still on his face, though hard to see though the obvious malnutrition that happened in the past. He was taller than a normal thirteen-year-old, sure, but it wasn’t unusual, or, well, it’s a lot more common to be a tall thirteen year old than a twelve year old who could still see the Minish.

But still, even though the conversation of age hadn’t really come up within the group, but Four wondered why Legend hasn’t brought this up. It was something that Four would put as ‘pretty important’ but, then again, his ability to be as small as a Minish or even the ability to split into four people would also be on that list. They were all entitled to their secrets.

And all of that didn’t cover the fact that Legend thought that he wasn’t traumatise, or at least, not as ‘traumatised as the others’.

Since when did they start comparing their trauma?

“I’m… This is gonna be the last time I see you guys, isn’t it?” Legend said sadly, bringing Four out of his thoughts. He nodded his head in agreement. Four didn’t could as a Minish, anyone could see him, but how was he going to say that to Legend? Not only could Legend not hear anything that Four said while in that form, Four had no idea what would happen if he came out with the truth.

But even the lie seemed to start the waterworks for Legend.

Four started waving his hands, telling him not to cry and to calm down, that everything was going to be fine, saying anything that he hoped would calm the other down despite the fact that he knew that Legend wouldn’t be able to hear him. Legend seemed to noticed his freaking out, because he shook his head and sniffed, rubbing his dirty hands over his face in hopes to brush away any of his tears.

“No… It’s fine. I should have known this was gonna happen. Sorry, I’m just a cry baby. It’s all I ever do, cry that is.” Legend sniffed again, before brushing his hands on his tunic and standing up, smiling down at Four. “I’ve probably got to go, it’s getting late and I need to meet up with Fo-Link. You’re really lucky y’know, because Link’s a great hero to have, a lot better than me at least. Goodbye.” And with that, Legend had walked back into the woods.

Four let out a huge sigh.

Way too much to unpack.

He quickly transformed back to his normal size before running through the woods, only so that it would look like he had been on the other side of the woods and that Legend didn’t think that Four had been listening to him while he was having a breakdown. It was bad enough that Four was going to have to tell him that he hadn’t been speaking to a Minish but rather than himself.

Because there was no way that Four was going to be able to pretend that he didn’t witness that sort of breakdown, let alone let Legend continue to think the way that he did. Four wasn’t an expert on healthy coping mechanisms, but comparing trauma was definitely not one of them.

Legend was already there when he turned up at the place where they had agreed to split, and while he didn’t look like he had been crying, there was no way to get rid of all the mud he had managed to get on himself while he had been crawling, though most of the mud from his face and hands was gone now.

“Hi.” Four said with a smile (though he could already hear Shadow yelling at him about his inability to lie). Legend didn’t seem too impressed about having to wait for him, but he didn’t say anything so

“Did you do the thing that you needed to do?” Legend asked, his voice dull and filled with exhaustion. Four nodded his head. He hadn’t been able to give the Minish the full picture before having to leave to see the ‘weird Hylian that’s crawling around’ but they knew enough now to keep themselves, and the forest, safe.

“You okay?” Four asked, knowing full well that Legend was, in fact, not okay.

“I’m fine.” Legend grumbled out, crossing his arms and quickening his pace, causing Four to have to turn to a fast walk to even keep up with him.

“Really?” Four asked again.

“Ugh, I just slipped in the mud, okay?” Legend said, his face screwing up slightly, his nose twitching.

Four didn’t realise how awful of a liar Legend was. How on earth did he managed to convince everyone he was almost in his twenties?

They walked back to the group in silence, told Time that there weren’t any monsters, or any sign of monsters, and they both eat their meal in silence while the others joked around and told stories, behaviour that wasn’t out of character for the pair of them.

Now, how exactly was Four going to break it to Legend that he had been there while he had a breakdown.

* * *

They’ve switched world three times now, and Four had yet to say a word.

He wasn’t putting it off, per say, much rather, he was just looking for the right moment to talk to Legend about it. Yeah, that’s what he was doing. It’s not like he could confront him about it in front of the whole group. Not only was Four uncomfortable with dropping his secret in front of everyone yet, but dropping Legend’s secret right afterwards and then interrogating him in front of everyone else would be undeniably harsh of him.

So, Four kept his quiet as the group travelled form one Hyrule to another, keeping an especially closer eye on Legend as they did so.

He had learned a lot about the younger hero during their travels by simply watching him.

He barely slept, for one. Other than Wild, he was the first person up for the day, and during nights where he thought that no one else was watching him, he would stare up at the sky and stare at the stars and travelling moon. He had a strange fondness for carrots and knew more than the average person about weapons and, in particular, swords and their care. There were moments when he seemed to want to say something, but his mouth would open and close quickly, staying quite instead.

He barely said anything about his travels.

Which wasn't unusual, since no one really liked talking about their adventures, but even Time had a story or two to talk tell the others. Legend had five adventures to choose from, but other than a vague mention of someone called Ravio and how his distaste for pants came from his most recent adventure, nothing was said.

But, Four's bigger question was how the rest of the group hadn't realised how old Legend was.

Because Legend was thirteen years old, and sometimes it really showed. He picked petty fights with Warriors for pettier reasons, though it probably didn't help that Warriors always raised to the bait. He was stubborn in a way only a child could be, holding ridiculous grudges for far too long, that came apparent when Wild tried to prank him and Legend decided he wasn't going to talk to him for an entire week. Any time that they went to a bar, Legend would make it explicit that he didn't want to drink, and would get very awkward when one of the others tried to tease him about it, asking if it was because he knew he wouldn't be able to get served.

Surely, one of the others noticed Legend's behaviour, but the other person who seemed to be as interested in Legend as Four was was Hyrule, and it was clear that Hyrule has just a tad of hero's worship when it came to Legend, hanging onto every word that came out of his mouth.

Maybe Hyrule already knew Legend's age, but didn't mention it because he thought that everyone else knew. That was a uniquely Hyrule move to make.

Four had been planning to ask Hyrule of his opinion of Legend, if only to put off the confrontation, before they were attacked by a swarm of keese, and then some bokoblins.

"These keese are from my Hyrule!" Wild cried as he reached for his bow, followed quickly by Legend, as they shot the flying terrors out of the sky one by one.

"These bokoblins are from the Great Sea, they're pushovers!" Wind yelled, before he was quickly disarmed by one of them. "Or not."

Four pinched his lips as he fought his own monster, watching as the rest of the group seemed to be gathering around Wind. He'll be fine, he's been disarmed in battle before. Legend seemed to have the same thought as he shot more of the keese, keeping them from the others as they became more distracted by Wind's situation.

He had managed to finally kill his monster when Wild's cry caused him to turn around and look at what had happened.

Wild was on the floor, with Wind yelling at him to wake up. Sky had his whip out, disarming the bokoblin form its weapon, allowing Wind to pick it up and finally finish off the job. 

“He’s dead.” Legend said, and Four could hear the subtle fear in his voice.

“What?” Hyrule said, looking down at Wild while everyone else crowed around. Four crouched down next to Time, a hand deep into Wolfie's fur to keep him steady as he took in the scene.

“No! He’ll be fine. He’s already coming around.” Warriors said with a small shake of his head, “That was a mess of a battle.”

“Something is happening with these monsters.” Time said as he stood up.

“Yeah, well, someone said it would be easy.” Legend snapped, turning to Wind with his hands on his hips and a scowl taking up his entire face.

“I didn’t know that they’d be like that moblin!” Wind yelled back, still out of breath from the battle

“You think this is gonna be a pattern?” Four said, crossing his eyes but keeping an eye on Legend, hoping to stop the arguing before it started, without calling people out for their exaggerations. It was clear that they were not used to fighting with other people, especially those with different strengths, abilities and weapons, if that battle had shown them anything.

It had taken the colours a while to get used to fighting as a group of four, and then again as a group of three, then back to four. Fighting with a group of completely different people was so much harder, and he was experienced with fighting with other people.

They make it back to camp with relative ease, but in complete silence.

Wind led the way, stomping ahead of the group with his arms crossed, anger coming off him in waves, with the others trailing behind, seemingly feeling conflicted after everything they saw.

Once they got back, Twilight became a mother hen at seeing Wild's injury, Sky trying to calm him down while everyone started to settle down, dropping their weapons and trying to relax after their adrenaline rush from the battle.

Well, Four was going to at least, but then he noticed Hyrule was trying to cook, and someone had to make sure that they weren't going to get poisoned in the time that Wild was out of commission.

"How long have you had that meat?" Four asked as he stared down at the cooking pot in distrust. Hyrule turned back to Four with a smile that promised that someone would probably die if they tried to eat this.

"It will put hair on your chest!" Hyrule said, and Four pinched his lips together. It would certainly do something, that was for sure.

A quick look for Legend showed that he was trying to convince Sky to sell his whip; this must be the first weapon that one of the others had that Legend himself

"So, you get that feeling too?" The words barely pass through Hyrule's lips, but Four heard them all the same. He turned back to the other boy, who was stirring his suspicious stew.

"What?" Four asked, even though he heard him.

"Like Legend's hiding something..." Hyrule replied, staring at his stew before deciding to add a vegetable that he didn't recognise, or at least, Four hoped it was a vegetable, or at least edible.

"Aren't we all?" Four asked as he sat down next to Hyrule.

"Of course. There are things we haven't talked about, and probably never mention to everyone," Hyrule casted a small glance to Four's sword before looking back at the 'meal'. It was no secret to the group that Four's sword was hiding something, but Four wasn't ready to talk about it.

Not yet.

"It's just... The Hero of Legend is a pretty big deal in my world. He's completed seven adventures, and there was a certain emphasis on how young he was. Not in a 'anyone can be a hero, no matter the age', mind, but in a 'we need to look after and _listen_ to our children' way." Hyrule said. Four nodded along with Hyrule, but before Four could say anything, could ask Hyrule anything about how much he actually knew about Legend's adventure, they were interrupted by Wind yelling.

"And this isn't the first time! Don't think I haven't noticed!" Everyone turned to Wind, and a quick look at everyone showed that they were surprised by the shouting. Why were they? It was clear that Wind hadn't appreciated what had happened today, and he wasn't one to give the silent treatment.

"We can't help it. You're the youngest." Twilight said.

"Oh really? Legend and Four seemed to trust me enough to fight my battles without hovering around me. I've fought while disarmed before, in fact, it was one of the first things that happened to me during my first adventure!" Wind yelled, looking at the rest of the group on by one, each of them not meeting of his eyes. "You're the last people I thought I'd _ever_ have to prove myself to. I stabbed Ganon in the head. I have the Hero's Spirit of Courage, just like all of you. All I ask is you guys have a little more faith in me." After the mini speech, Wind sat down on the floor, with his arms crossed, and the tension broke, with the others talking about what the plan for dinner that night was.

But, most interestingly, in Four's mind, was the way that Legend had looked during that speech, looking down at the thick bracelet on his left wrist, looking deep in thought.

This had gone on for long enough. Four was supposed to be on second watch that night. He'll talk to Legend then.

* * *

When Sky came to wake Four up for his shift, Four got up quickly, scaring Sky pretty badly. He apologised for it, saying he hadn't slept due to what Wind had said earlier (a slight lie there, but at least his tell wasn't as obvious as Legends) and Sky accepted it, before laying down on his bedroll and falling sleep as soon as he closed his eyes, his quite snores joining in with the rest of the groups.

Four looked over at Legend who lied next to him, and sure enough, he was pretending to be asleep again tonight.

"Legend?" Four asked.

"Legend, I know you're awake." Legend's face twitched,

"Listen, I want to talk to you about something..." Four said, frowning when Legend refused to prove Four right and show that he was awake.

"Right, lets get straight to the point then." Four said as he leaned back on his arms, staring at the trees around him. "I need to show you something."

With that Legend shot up and looked at him, confusion clear in his face, but there was a little bit of excitement in there.

"How did you know that I was awake?" Legend whispered, crossing his arms and frowning at Four.

"Your eyes move underneath their eyelids way too much to be dreaming." Four replied, completely deadpanned. Legend at least had the audacity to look awkward about his sleep, or therefore lack of it, but Legend's sleeping schedule wasn't what Four wanted to talk about.

"What did you want to show me? Why couldn't you show me in the daytime?" Legend said, crossing his arms. Anxiety grew inside of Four. This probably wasn't going to end well, for either of them.

"I'm not ready to show the rest of the group yet, but you have the right to know about it." Four said, before lifting his hood, the same one he had since he was ten and had, unfortunately, not really grown into since.

"What do you-" Legend started, but he came to a stop when Four shrunk down to the size of a Minish, looking away from Legend when he leaned down to get a better view. The silence around them was unbearable, but it was clear that Legend recognised him.

Four could only stay that size for a minute before he transformed back to his normal size. He needed to talk to Legend, and he couldn't do that when he was smaller than a cucco's egg.

"Listen Legend I'm-"

"So, you know everything? That I'm only thirteen and no one believes me about my adventures?"

"Well, everything but that bi-" Four said, eyes widening at the new revelation, but was interrupted yet again.

"I'm sorry!" Four jumped in surprise at the apology, only to properly look at Legend and he that he was _crying_. "I didn't mean to keep it a secret but I thought you guys knew and then Warriors thought I was nineteen and no one disagreed with him and I couldn't just say 'hey actually I'm thirteen not nineteen' and then everyone believed I was nineteen an-"

"Hey hey hey, no, it's okay, I don't blame you at all." Four said, crawling closer to Legend, making sure to have a quick look around to see if anyone was awake. No one was. Good.

"And now I suppose you think that I'm were lying about me going on five adventures and I'm too young to be a hero and that I should go home and stop pretending to be a hero and grow up and-"

"Legend. I need you to take a deep breath for me." Four said, internally panicking. He had never done this before, Green had, but he was as much Green as he was Blue and Red and Vio.

"-and Ravio's right! I shouldn't have come; I shouldn't have anything to prove to anyone else but no I had to be stupid enough to come-"

"Link!" It seemed that calling Legend's given was enough to bring him out of his panic, but he was still breathing fast, still shaking, still staring just past Four's head at nothing. "I need you to take a deep breath and hold it. Can you do that?"

They went through the motions of calming him down, Four making sure to hold Legend's tightly.

"Now, before you say anything, I'm sorry." Four placed a finger on Legend's lips before he could say anything. "I'm sorry, for making you think that I was a Minish, and I'm sorry for not telling you it was me at the time and sooner than now." Legend stared at Four for a minute or so, and Four wondered if it meant that Legend would never forgive him for the crimes he committed against him.

"Minish?" Four let out a small laugh of relief at the question, feeling suddenly lighter now that some secrets were out.

"Picori, they prefer Minish but answer to both." Four explained, Legend nodding in understanding at the answer.

"And about what you told me, I haven't told anyone, though I think that Hyrule might be on to something. He really admires you, y'know?" Four said sadly.

"Why? It's not like I'm anything amazing- nothing like you guys at least. I'm just a bit of a cry baby really." Legend said, wiping tears away from his cheeks and looking away from Four in embarrassment.

"Are you kidding me!? Six adventures before the age of fourteen? You should be bragging about that to everyone, even if they don't believe you. And even if we don't talk about your adventures, you can use any weapon given to you, especially when it comes to magical ones. None of us had to fight Ganon twice, none of travelled out of Hyrule once, let alone to three different countries. Sure, Hyrule's land is a wasteland and Wild died before his adventure started and Warriors was basically stabbed in the back a thousand times, but would you ever compare them to one another?" Four asked him.

"No! It wouldn't be fair, it's different for everyone." Legend said quietly. Four nodded in agreement.

"Exactly! If you can compare two people's trauma against each other, then you can't compare your trauma to someone else's, it's not fair on either of you."

"But-"

"No buts. You're struggling to sleep, you're too scared to tell people the truth because of your past experiences, you hate talking about yourself- your adventures have left a mark, and denying it isn't going to make them go away" Four explained, and he squeezed Legend's hands again.

"That being said, you're going to have to tell everyone about your age soon."

"What!"

"It's not about that. It's about the fact that you're clearly uncomfortable with certain conversations because of the age difference. Warriors will stop teasing you about not ordering alcohol when we're in a bar." Four pushed, but Legend shook his head again.

"Even if they do believe me, they'll just treat me like Wind was today! They already respect me, you're the only guys who do outside of Ravio, I can't lose that!" Legend started shaking again, so Four leaned in to give him a hug.

Legend flinched, going stiff for a minute before leaning into the hug, and Four hugged him tighter when he felt his shoulder getting wet.

If Four ever saw the people that caused this... well, they would be facing a new fear, that was certain.

"Wind's already said for them to stop, and if it doesn't, then I'll tell them." Four said as he rubbed Legend's back. "I'm not saying to do it straight away, but you'll feel a lot better if you tell everyone. Y'know that, right?" He felt Legend nod against him, so Four closed his eyes as he continued to hug Legend.

They stayed like that for a while, Four losing track of how long they sat there in the hug before.

"I'm sorry about crying on you." Legend croaked out. Four rolled his eyes.

"It's okay. How are you feeling?"

"Tired." Legend whispered as he rubbed his swollen eyes.

"You should try and get some sleep." Four suggested, and Legend nodded again, before looking towards his bedroll awkwardly.

"C'mon here." Four said, grabbing hold of Legend's undershirt and dragging him to lay down next to him, with Legend's head resting in his lap. "You're clearly not going to sleep, or at least sleep well, by yourself."

Legend was as stiff as a board for a few seconds, until Four started running his hand through his hair. As soon as Four's small hand was touching his scalp, Legend turned into a pile in his lap, letting out a little sigh as all his muscles lost all of the tension.

Like this, Four couldn't believe they thought that Legend was nineteen.

It didn't take long for Legend to fall asleep.

The rest of Four's watch was uneventful, which was great, because it meant that Legend was able to sleep without being woken up. However, it did mean that Four wasn't able to get up and go to Warriors for his watch.

Time to get creative.

Four picked up the closest stone to him, before throwing it at Warriors. Warriors was up in an instant, with his sword drawn and ready to fight, only to put it down when he realised that it was Four who threw it, and the reason why he threw a rock at him.

"You managed to get him to sleep?"

"Yeah, but I'm not telling you how. Trade secret. Don't wake him up tomorrow if you can help it, and do not make fun of him for this, make sure that everyone else is aware of this." Warriors nodded before standing up and walking around camp to see if everything was safe.

And with that, Four leaned back against the tree behind him, and fell asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed then please leave a comment/kudo, I would love you forever.


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